The monument is placed at the Lake Mergelės Akys, where the bodies of resistance fighters from the Dainava military district Merkys corps and the Kazimieraitis corps who were killed in the Druskininkai region were dumped between 1944 and 1953. In the first years after the war began a resistance fight grew up in the Druskininkai region as well as in the rest of Lithuania. In 1944-1946, resistance fighters used to fight openly with the Red Army MGB, People's Defence Platoons (destroyers). About 10 thousand resistance fighters died in these fights in Lithuania. In 1946-1948, there were some 4,000 men and women who were still fighting in the woods. These fights were supervised by the leaders of the Lithuanian resistance movement. The Soviet authorities took brutal measures to suffocate the resistance by deporting and terrorising civilians and leaving the bodies of tortured resistance fighters in public places. Between 1948 and 1953, some 2,000 resistance fighters still fought in the woods. The last fighters still fought sporadically in the woods until 1965.

Druskininkai City Museum telephone: +370 31351024